


OCtober Prompts

by Bitch_In_The_Blue, JetravenEx



Category: Grand Theft Auto Series (Video Games), Grand Theft Auto V
Genre: All of the OCs - Freeform, Birthday, Childhood Memories, Depression, Family Drama, House Hunting, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Memories, Multi, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, missing an ex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-07-23 13:13:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16159661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bitch_In_The_Blue/pseuds/Bitch_In_The_Blue, https://archiveofourown.org/users/JetravenEx/pseuds/JetravenEx
Summary: Prompt fills for the OCtober using our characters from the Chasing Cars series and the Full Disclosure Series.





	1. Seasons Change

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 1: Seasons
> 
> This one would be set before My Dude's O'Death, before Jess meets Nona. This is her brief visit to Rhapsody to see her family. My Dude's O'Death is set before Chapter 4 of Off the Record.
> 
> During her visit she reflects on the passage of time and how the seasons have changed as a result for her and her family.

“Stop here,” Jess told the cab driver, as they came to a stop in front of a nice brick house. “Thanks for the lift.” She said paying the driver before the young woman stepped out shouldering a weathered blue backpack, casting her eyes around on the familiar street.

She took a deep breath taking in the crisp cool air, letting it out with a sigh. One of the downsides of living in San Andreas, four seasons was a myth. It might get cold if you decided to climb Chiliad, and you might see some snow… on the mountain. But even then it was rare.

So coming back home to Rhapsody with it’s four seasons, made Jess already feel more at home.

It was crazy to think it had been so long since she’d lived here. Her gaze drifted around settling on the tree in the front yard frowning. The cherry tree was large and it’s branches stretched high into the sky. But there were many branches that were… barren.

They had no leaves at all, and some were sagging leaning on other branches for support, clearly not holding up their own weight anymore.

The tree looked half dead… Which was rather depressing.

It made her nostalgic for the time when that tree was full of leaves, when it wasn’t an Asea parked in the front but a familiar Green Vapid Minivan, Speedy.

Years back… over a decade ago. This front yard and driveway had been a location for many games. Jess and her younger brother… Alan running around, playing tag, using the tree to try and hide from reaching hands.

Her smile tightened. She could see her little brother with his mop of brown hair flapping about, running around the tree with her younger self in pursuit. Her older brother Thomas sitting and writing something in a notebook while occasionally looking up to make sure Jess and Alan weren’t killing each other.

Alan giggling as he ran and touched the green minivan. A wind brushed by and Jess imagined she could her hear little brother shouting base.

“You know if you stand there, the birds are going to start crapping on you.” A sharp voice coming from behind brought a sharp end to her reminiscing. Jess turned to see her sister hugging an overly large jacket around herself. Her Dinka Double-T parked in front of the house. Jess looked her up and down and sighed when she saw that her sisters long toned legs were bare.

“Please, tell me you at least have underwear on under there?” Jess asked, glancing around to see if anyone was going to notice. But fortunately the street was empty, given that it was an early weekday morning, and most of the folks would either be at work. That or after being around Cici for so long no one batted an eye at her antics.

Cici, scoffed and tossed her hair. “Jeez, it’s a short dress,” She opened the jacket to reveal a short dress that would likely cause their mother to keel over. “Some of us, like to look sexy,” She said covering up the dress with the jacket.

Jess eyed her, “Whatever,” She had her suspicions about why Cici her older sister, who was 9 years older than her, was wearing such a low cut dress, and looking… the way she did.

Her older sister had always been the better looking between, with her natural wavy dark hair, her bright blue eyes, along with a face that seemed to never get a blemish.

Unfortunately her personality and life choices… left much to be desired. “I hope you haven’t been, you know...” Jess waved her hand

“What? You’ll have to be specific,” Cici grinned darkly leading the way to the house, striding along in her high heels.

“I could, but if mom and dad are home I doubt they’d approve of your antics, whichever one you’ve done this time.” Jess remarked.

“Well Dad’s at work, while Mom’s off yelling at whichever relative’s trying to take advantage of Dad’s kind heart.” Cici said producing the house key and opening the door stepping into the two story home, Jess stepping in after her shutting the door.

Once the door was closed Cici turned around, “Besides, speak for yourself, I doubt they’d approve of what you’re really doing. You’re luck that Dad hasn’t asked any of his business friends about the company… what’d you call it?”

Jess’s eyes narrowed. “Speedstar Industries works in a lot of different fields.” Jess retorted. “It’d be no surprise Dad and his buddies would be unaware of a smaller engineering firm.”

“If it _was_ an engineering firm. I’m not stupid, _Melanie_ ,” Cici said like she was making an accusation, though Jess relaxed a bit.

If Cici was using her normal name, and not the pseudonym, Jessica Hart, or Jess, then her sister didn’t know much at all.

“Could’ve fooled me, so what extra legal activity is it? Back on drugs again? Or you just going back to the sex industry for fun?”

Jess wasn’t expecting the way her sister whipped around and glared at her jabbing a finger at her. “Don’t forget that my so called ‘Drug problem’ helped get you an in in your own _extra legal_ activities. If it weren’t for me introducing you to Mark, and telling you about his problems and how you could cash in on his connections in San Andreas, you wouldn’t be where you are now!” Cici snapped. “So don’t you go acting that you’re _better_ than me. Especially since you got in the shit you’re in because you were upset about a stupid minivan.”

Jess recoiled. She _hated_ when people brought up her thing for cars and spoke with such scorn about it. Like her connection to them was somehow on par with the shit Cici was doing. Digging for gold. Doing whatever drug was _in_ with her group of fuck ups.

“At least I’m not doping myself on pills, or coke, or whatever the fuck is your new drug of choice!” Jess spat stepping into Cici’s space, her sisters eyes narrowing. “Sure, I might not be playing by the book anymore! Maybe I’m not as clean or as pure as I’d like to be. But fuck you! I'm making it work.”

“And yet you want to thumb your nose at me, when I’m doing just the same,” Cici sneered shaking her head pulling back. “At least I have a social life. At least I can have _fun._ What are you doing little sister? Whenever you come by for visits, it’s always about your fake work. No talk about interacting with people, only about your cars. Maybe I’m sad, but at least I have _friends_ I’ll have people around me to spend my time with,” Cici spread her hands out, “The only thing in your life is cars and work. It’s _sad_.” She leaned in as she spoke.

Jess bit her lip she could feel tears prick her eyes. She opened her mouth to say something.

“I’m not perfect, but I got this way because our family sucks. Our parents shut down after Alan died,” Cici said going over to where their mother had set up a display of all the family pictures, pictures of Jess and her siblings. Individual pictures of Thomas and Alan. “My change was because of people, _your_ change was because mom and dad decided to get rid of that stupid hunk of junk that used to occupy the garage. It’s _pathetic._ So don’t go judging me, when you’re own sad life is in ruins, all over a stupid minivan.”

“There was a _lot_ of shit going on!” Jess retorted finally finding her voice tears blurring her vision. “Thomas was murdered, then I had to rush through school because mom and dad wanted me to get out there and make them proud and then-” She swallowed tightly. “And then Speedy was gone, it was _too much_.”

Cici scoffed looking unimpressed by Jess’s outburst, “Whatever, just know that when you die, you’ll probably die alone with the way you’re going.” She said turning on her heel. “I’m going to go get changed.”

Seeing an opportunity there to lash out at her sister Jess struck. “What? 32 and _still_ living at home.”

Cici let out a laugh taking off her shoes before heading up. “Wow, I just went through a break up and had to leave my old apartment, and _now_ I’m getting judged for it? Thanks, sis, I love that I can always count on you for love and support. Don’t fucking talk to me for the rest of the time you’re here. Focus on, putting on a show for mom and dad so they don’t feel like their hopes of a child they could be proud of died with Thomas.” With that Cici marched upstairs, her heavy footsteps audible from the floor above, followed by a door being thrown open and then slammed shut.

Jess let out a wavering sigh going over to the dining room table and setting her hand on it. She fought back the lump in her throat. She glanced down at the table and felt her throat tighten.

On the table were more pictures. Of course. Part of the reason Jess was even _visiting_ was because Thomas’s birthday was coming up. And her parents liked to have everyone come together to just… be together. And remember.

Jess saw a photo of the family gathered around their green minivan. Posing after a long summer road trip.

Jess picked it up and looked it over, looking at the smiling faces. Back then she’d been 8, Alan 6, Thomas 15, and Cici 17. 2 years before Alan would be admitted to the hospital, his health problems reaching a height… and he’d be dead.

Making that falll with it's chilly winds, the falling leaves and gray days seem reflective of the loss her family was stuck feeling after Alan’s passing.

Cici wasn’t wrong that after Alan passed… it cast a shadow over their family.

Summer vacations had that touch of melancholy. A packed itinerary of places and activities Jess and her siblings didn’t entirely _want_ to do, but did at the request of their mother. All to provide a constant distraction from the gaping hole that was missing in their family.

Fall’s chilly weather and leaves changing colors, was no longer a time of play, of getting ready for halloween picking out costumes, preparing to go trick or treating. OF enjoying the season, instead they became a time of focus. Focus on work needing to be done.

Jess picked up a photo of her and Thomas, the pair of them standing in front of a haunted house at a pumpkin patch. Thomas looked to be in his late teens with Jess just in Middle school. They were smiling… but they looked strained This was from when enough time had passed that the family had to start trying to pretend they were normal. But with Cici in rehab at this point the photo had been taken, it left Jess and Thomas to shoulder that burden.

Though in the photo just after that, showed that this wasn’t as much of a burden as her thoughts were painting it as. Thomas had his hands on her shoulders pulling her back slightly, her older brother’s head bent low and his mouth open in a fake snarl, while Jess looked startled, though the corners of her mouth were tilting upwards in a half yelp, half laugh.

The two of them had just left the haunted house in that picture. It was hardly the most… terrifying she supposed. But she’d never been one to enjoy horror. Now after becoming a criminal for hire and making her money stealing fancy cars and selling them to the highest bidder, and the horrible things she’d seen and done to earn her money. She liked horror even less.

Jess picked up more pictures, going from the younger years to closer and closer to 5 years ago when Thomas had been killed. The last photo on the table was of Thomas, Jess and Cici posed in front of their christmas tree. Jess having just started college that fall, a year early due to all the accelerated course work she'd done.

Cici, despite her tendency towards animosity, looked pleasant in the picture, smiling softly on the left side of Thomas while wearing a santa hat, Thomas was in the middle with his arms over both Jess and Cici. Jess was smiling broadly and wearing reindeer antlers.

Only a few months later Thomas would be shot and killed, leaving the Harding family shaken to the core. Her parents grieving their son who had done so well, reached and met all their expectations. Got a job working with Avon, and they were expecting the same of her until-

Bile rose in her throat and Jess turned away tears burning in her eyes once more. Then, 2 years after her brothers death, grinding her way through college, spending every moment working her ass off to get her degree. She came home triumphant, only for it to become like ash.

Unable to keep looking at the pictures showing seasons past. Showing still frames of the happiness that had long died in the family. Jess turned away.

She went down a hall, not really thinking about it. Back in San Andreas when she was distressed she’d go to the garage. Something that she’d done when she’d been young.

Hell she remembered after a bad test, and her parents had given her flack for it. She’d gone this way, a 17 year old college freshman weeping over her failure. Her sister away going through her required counseling and Thomas off being a rising star.

With no one to turn to the young Melanie, long before she’d call herself anything else had hurried along this hallway heading to the garage and opening it to be greeted by an old green vapid minivan. And there she’d been able to confess her failings, her feelings with no judgement.

When Jess reached the end of the hall and opened the garage door it was empty. Of course. Her mother’s new car was out and her father had likely taken the train in to work if he was tired.

Speedy was gone.

Gone were the days of the old minivan sitting in the garage. Gone was the days of Thomas taking her aside and showing her how to repair the engine of the old minivan. Gone was the days of playing tag with Alan among the falling leaves.

Jess wiped at her eyes and sat down on the step of the garage and pulled out her phone. She swallowed tightly.

As much as she’d missed the seasons. The passage of time, had made the seasons change. 

She plugged her earbuds in and closed her eyes tears tracking down. She’d have to wait for her parents to return home. She’d have to face Cici’s scorn. All of it without the things she needed most.

So in that moment as she hit play she clenched her eyes tight and imagined… that the time hadn’t made the seasons change. And fall was just the same as it had ever been, and that in front of her eyes the ones she’d lost were still here with her.

The tears continued to fall as she listened to the song blaring in her ears as if it could drown out everything.

 

_I won't let you down_

_When the seasons change_

_I won't go down_

_I'll fight through the pain_

_I'll be there right by your side_

_I'll never let them bring you down_

_I won't let you down_

_When the seasons change_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics at the end are the ending chorus of When the Seasons Change by Five Finger Death Punch
> 
> Rhapsody lies in the Midwest, it is meant to be Chicago in the GTA world.


	2. Like Sunshine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt for the second day of OCtober is 'FASHION'!  
> So I chose the story of how Nona chose her most iconic look!  
> This chapter is set Mid-[REDACTED], shortly after chapter 11

The job for Trevor had left her red LC hoodie looking worse for wear. Stained, permanently, with the dust of Stab City... And biker blood.   
If it weren’t for Ace and Graves, the blood might’ve been her own.   
Overall she just needed new clothes. She’d held onto her ‘transit from Liberty City’ clothes for too long. It’d been nearly a year. But nothing else she’d owned was as worn in and comfortable, so she didn’t really _choose_ to wear much else. Unwilling to get out of her comfort zone.  
Her sweatpants and T-shirt were ruined anyway too. Too much action, not enough stain removal power. It was just time to move on.   
She parked her recently acquired motorcycle outside of the Sub-Urban by Vinewood Blvd. Eventually she’d customize _that_ too.   
The place was dead as she entered, playing Radio Mirror Park over the shop speakers. Only one discernable employee, from what she could see.   
A young Latina woman- probably in her early twenties or late teens- stood behind the register. Hunched over the counter, phone in her hands. Looking like she was hung over.   
"Hey," she lazily greeted. Nona wondered if she was high. She sounded almost drowsy- and standoffish. "Anything I can help with?"   
Nona shook her head, moving toward the first rack of clothing that appealed to her.   
Jeans. A good, comfortable pair of jeans were universal no matter what she was doing. Hanging around at home or on a job. They were durable and she could move with ease.   
Skinny jeans wouldn't get caught on anything. So that was her first choice. First piece, done.   
Shoes.   
Safety and comfort would be paramount. Preferably leather. Preferably... Not ugly.   
Black leather steel toed boots stood out to her. Only extending in height to her mid-calf. She tried them on and felt like they were perfect.   
At least they wouldn’t make her any taller either. She couldn’t remember the last time she wore any shoes with height.   
... Shirts were a struggle on their own.   
What should she wear?   
Black? White? What was practical?   
What was...   
_Do something different._   
Something different… Something she could make her own. Ace had always encouraged more _bold_ choices. Hence the tattoos. Hence the motorcycle.   
Okay, maybe she should ask for some help after all.   
She approached the register, noticing the girl hiding her phone in a cubby beneath the surface as she came near.   
Her name tag read ' ** _ROSA_** ’ in big, bold letters.   
"Find everything you need?" Rosa asked, not looking up from the register as she rung up the purchase.   
_"I was wondering if you could give me some input on what shirt would go with this. I want to so something different."_   
The girl behind the counter gave Nona a quizzical look when she used her phone to communicate. Odd. She’d never seen anyone do that before.   
Maybe this lady couldn’t talk.   
“What kind of ‘different’ were you thinking?”   
_“Bold different.”_   
“‘Bold different’,” Rosa nodded. “Maaaaaaaaaaaaybeeeeee…” She looked past Nona to one of the racks of T-shirts, spotting the _one_ shirt the store had in _that_ color. “Hang on, I know there’s one I’ve been looking at for a while,” She left her spot behind the counter and led the way to the rack she’d kept her eyes on. “It sticks out like a sore thumb to me. I personally don’t like bright colors. I think dark and neutral is more mature, but that’s just my personal hangup.”   
Nona stood by, hands behind her back as she patiently waited for the young woman to search through the rack, eventually pulling out a mustard yellow V-neck.   
“ _This_ one is on clearance,” Rosa said. “They didn’t really ship much of it in the box of similar shirts n’ shit. Yellow’s not a big color around here. A lot of people think it’s too ‘hey, look at me!’ for their tastes. What do you think, _too_ bold?”   
Nona eyed the garment, taking the hanger from Rosa to examine it closer. Nice and new. Bright.   
Yellow was widely considered a happy, friendly color.   
Like sunshine.   
She smiled at the memory of her dad’s nickname for her. _‘Ray of Sunshine’._   
… Might as well try it. If she didn’t like it, she could pick something else out later.   
  
After Rosa rung up the purchase, Nona left the shop. She picked the shirt out of the plastic bag in her hands, as if in disbelief that she actually bought something so purposely garish.   
Well… If Ace can have pink hair, she could have a yellow shirt.   
A loud article of clothing for an otherwise silent person.


	3. A Place to Call my Own

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 3: Habitat 
> 
> Set about a month into Jess's time in San Andreas. 
> 
> Jess is looking for a place for her and her Bravado Buffalo, Buddy to rest. Unsure she decides to get a tour of a low end apartment... and is less than thrilled.

Jess sighed as she looked at the locations on her phone chewing her lip. Hotel rooms were a mixed bag, and lacked any real security for her newly upgraded Bravado Buffalo. Especially since she was stuck in low end rooms. 

Frankly she’d rather like to find a semi permanent place for herself and her car, to stop wasting money on cheap hotels, as she was still adjusting to her new… work. 

She chewed her lip as she looked through the low end listings. She didn’t really like the look of any of the apartments, but she sighed and began looking at the address for one that wasn’t complete trash. At first glance none of the low end buildings really impressed her much. But… given her current low finances she’d best go give them a once over, she wasn’t going to be able to afford anywhere really nice for a while. 

Even if they were probably going to be disgusting… and dirty. And altogether unimpressive…

But she couldn’t buy what she couldn’t afford, so with a heavy sigh she looked through the list. It was best to think of this as temporary digs while she waited for her… ‘career’ as a criminal to take off. She tried to stamp out the pang that hit her in the heart at the thought.

Despite the clear advantages of no longer being on the right side of the law. Slowly working her way to almost 100 grand, with the combined work of running drugs, illegal street racing, jacking cars, and… the occasional tasks that required killing. Her heart twisted at what felt like a big fall from the brilliant young engineer she’d looked to become. 

But a glance at the steering wheel and the beautifully redone interior Buddy her Buffalo had gotten. Letting her hand over the newly refurbished upholstery car, all on the expense of Simeon in exchange for her stealing cars for him. It was worth it. Buddy didn’t replace Speedy...  But he… helped. And like Speedy his presence muted the hurt of everything else. 

“You might not be Speed, but you’re a good boy Buddy,” Jess cooed to the steering wheel before leaning forwards and loosely hugging the steering wheel. After a moment she pulled back and refocused on her phone. “Right now let’s get to finding us some place to live.” 

Finally she decided she’d go check out the apartment on S Rockford Dr. It was the cheapest of them all… and the one she’d most likely be able to afford. She set her GPS then set her phone on the seat beside her making sure the voice was on before starting the engine, shifting the Blue Buffalo into gear and heading in the direction of Rockford Dr. 

When she pulled up to the building Jess frowned looking over the building with a scrutinizing eye. The wooden exterior… and the blue paint job…. It… wasn’t the most appealing place on the outside. She craned her neck noting parts of the building that had different wood paneling that was white rather than blue. An effort to try and stylize the place, and fail miserably?

“Well…” Jess said slowly turning the key to turn off the engine. “Here’s hoping it looks better on the inside than it does on the outside.” She stepped out of the car patting down the pockets of her capris, already regretting stepping out of the air conditioned comfort of Buddy. 

Another plus to owning a place; air conditioning. San Andreas weather was a  _ bitch  _ compared to Rhapsody. At least Rhapsody had the lake to help cool it down, and having 3 seasons where it was colder than 60 on average helped. Snow in San Andreas was on the same level of mythical as unicorns. Though maybe the mountains had some… But that would require actually  _ climbing  _ the damned things. 

Jess walked around the building searching for a main entrance. Then she spotted the doorway in the portion of the grayish off white wood paneling in the portion of building. She went over to it, and opened the door before pulling back wrinkling her nose. It smelled lousy. It wasn’t… horrible after she stepped inside, but it wasn’t pleasant either. 

A quick glance around the main entrance way made her lips tighten into a grimace. There were stains on the carpet, and a few bullet holes in one of the walls. 

_ ‘So much for it looking better on the inside,’  _ Jess thought biting her lip as an older black woman with glasses and hair in a bun, with a folder in hand came up to her. The other woman’s eyes were down on the papers she was flipping through. 

“Hello, are you the one who called about apartment #13?” The woman asked lifting her eyes to consider Jess. She pursed her lips, when Jess nodded. “Right,” She said turning on her heel letting out a put upon sigh. “I can’t believe you’ve called me out here to actually run you through the place,” She said leading Jess down the hall and past a door with a half broken sign that said ‘airs’ instead of stairs.  

“Well, my parents always taught me to look at a place before I buy it!” Jess said quickly, and with a weak laugh. 

“Hmm, smart people. Unfortunately, this isn’t the place for that,” The woman noted leading Jess down the hall. “This is the place where people going nowhere live sweetie.” 

Jess blinked swallowing as she spotted rust stains on the floor and bottom of a door that made Jess cringe. 

“The place is still standing, barely. The plumbing works. Cable works, but the electricity can be a bit finicky on some days.” The woman went on, before continuing on. Though she didn’t point out or make any outwards note of the stains or broken sections of flooring. She did step around them as she made her way towards the apartment with a 13 on the door. 

“And here we have our apartment 13,” The woman said going to the door. She pulled out a key and turned it in the lock opening to reveal an already furnished room. “We at dynasty real estate have also gone so far as to provide the furniture that the last tenant so graciously left behind,” She said in a fake cheery tone. Like a switch had been flipped. Though before Jess could begin wondering if the agent had been replaced with a pod person she added. “After they died of a drug overdose, but don’t worry they had the decency to die outside of their apartment.” 

Jess gulped, and slowly stepped into the place. It was drab. The furniture was… okay, but nothing impressive. The carpet had stains in a few places, as did the furniture. 

She noted that the room was awfully warm and she turned to the woman, “Does… Does the Air conditioning work?” 

The woman sighed, and went over to a window unit and checked it. After a few moments she pulled back and said, “It’s under maintenance, if you buy it I’ll contact them for you.” 

Jess winced, no air conditioning right off the bat? Yikes. She made her way through the apartment, heading into one of the rooms. 

The bed was unmade, and there was clutter still on the floor. Pushed to the sides so there was a path but no real effort to actually take away the excess junk. 

It had all the same drab colors as the rest of the apartment, and the smell… Jess wrinkled her nose. She wondered if the bedding had been washed recently… or at all even. 

Grimacing she went over to the next room which was the bathroom. The tile was chipped in places. There was a ring in the toilet from the water sitting and a foul odor to boot. Smells and chipped tile aside the tiling and walls were an awful combination of colors. A pale yellow the majority of the walls had been painted, with some yellow tiling particularly around the window. The rest was blue tiling. Blue sink. Blue toilet. 

Jess liked blue, but the color blue just looked… so dull. And paired with the yellow it made her want to cringe. It looked like something from like the 50’s and up. When you wanted things to look like they blended with the wall. 

But now that time had passed, it all just looked old, and faded. Which did nothing to improve upon its other problems. 

Which was made worse when she spotted a big bug crawling behind the toilet making her flinch at the size of the thing. She didn’t know if it was a roach… or something else. It had gone too fast. But whatever it was. It made her cringe and want to get the fuck out of there as fast as possible. 

Jess exited the bathroom quickly upon seeing the bug and out of the bedroom moving back to the main room where the woman was at. 

The woman looked up. “Well? What do you think?” She asked, though her expression and voice was almost bored. When she took in Jess’s perturbed face her expression became pinched. “What?”

“Well…” Jess began slowly fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. “I don’t like it.” She admitted. “No air conditioning… and it’s just so drab… And there’s a weird smell. And bugs.”

The woman snorted. “Of course, you’re too good for that.”

“Well-”

“Well point is sweetheart, this is the cheapest apartment we have, so unless you’ve got some cash to burn on something better, don’t bother wasting my time.” She flipped through some pages and produced a new listing. “We have a location at the Royale, a newly renovated apartment there. That might be more your speed.” She held up the sheet for Jess to see. 

Jess looked at the listing and grimaced. The amenities, and all didn’t look  _ too  _ bad… But the price was a little higher than she’d like at this time. “I… I’ll have to say no, I don’t have the money at the moment.” 

The woman snorted. “Of course, well, if you decide to actually be interested let me know.” She led the way out of the apartment and Jess followed. “Though let me tell you, you might want to stuff your standards, living on the streets of Los Santos is  _ much  _ worse than having some roof over your head.” The woman said snootily. “You’ll likely wake up with everything you own stolen, if you wake up at all.” 

Jess winced. The reason she’d decided to go this route was after spending a few nights in Buddy after having burnt too much money on repairs after a job, she’d nearly been attacked by someone trying to break into Buddy. 

That had made her decide she needed  _ something  _ to protect herself and Buddy. 

But not this. This was just… She couldn’t stand it. It made her cringe.

As she followed real estate agent out she heard some shouting from several rooms, and sounds of conflict. It made her feel ill at ease. An apartment complex like this put her in closer proximity to people. And from first impressions even though she had yet to actually  _ encounter  _ any of the people who lived here… she didn’t feel safe. 

She needed a place a bit more isolated. Lower in price, but still enough shelter and storage space to keep her and Buddy in  _ some  _ security. 

Then a thought occurred to her as they reached the lobby. The real estate agent pushing up her glasses before turning to look at her, pinched look remaining on her face. “Well this was-”

“I um, saw garage listings,” Jess said. “I’ve… I’ve decided I might not ya know move out just yet.” She said waving her hand. She was grateful she hadn’t let the agency dealing with these buildings know she was entirely here on her own. “Parents are the worst, but I’d rather save up for something better. But I still need a place to store my ride and… stuff.” She said. The woman’s expression seeming to relax and look interested. “We don’t need to go to any locations,” She added the woman seeming to brighten at this. “Just… may I see some listings?” Jess asked reaching a hand towards the woman. 

The woman hmmed and then pulled out her phone. “Right, well here.” She opened the Dynasty 8 app and went to low end and down to the garages. “We have several nice 2 car garages, perfect for storing a car and… stuff.” The woman said, scrolling through the listings. “I don’t particularly recommend any of the ones below 30,000… Especially not the lowest one, Strawberry is not an area I’d recommend if you want to avoid being robbed.” The woman said. 

Jess nodded and looked it over. She noticed one at 34,000 that looked like it was apart of some business and had ‘Free Smog Check’ across the top of it above two garage doors. Was there a possibility of making some money with this location as well as storage and laying low if needed? Her eyes lit up at the possibilities. 

“That one,” Jess said pointing at the Innocence Blvd. Garage. “I want that one.” She said. At 34,000 she would own it outright. It’d be her little base of operations while she lived here. 

Sure it’d be a garage. But it at least meant safety and security for Buddy and she could always buy a cot and lots of fans to make it easier for her to coexist there. 

And she could save her money for something better down the line. Why waste time with low end, or mid range when she could save her cash and go straight for the high end? 

The woman nodded, “All right, then I think this wasn’t a waste of time at all, let’s write out an agreement and we can figure out payment.”

Jess grinned. This hadn’t been a waste of time at all. It had shown her not to waste her money on some cheap ass apartment. A garage would work fine! She wouldn’t be homeless, sure she’d have to work out whatever was up with the business it seemed to be attached to. But that could easily be reframed into some business or something to help her  _ earn  _ money. All to build up to her getting a high end apartment. 

Eclipse Towers had caught her eye, and every bit she could secure on her way to getting there would be great.

Jess couldn’t stop the big smile on her face as she filled out all the paperwork and received the keys to the place, tossing them and catching them as she and the agent departed the ratty ass apartment complex. 

“We’ve got a garage of our own Buddy!” Jess told the Buffalo once she was close slipping inside. This was going to be a great opportunity! She just knew it! 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the encounter that leads to Jess living in a Garage with her cars as detailed in 'Buffalo Gals Tear up The Town Tonight'


	4. Getting Older

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt #4 is 'Birthday'
> 
> Wheras I ended Rosa Salamanca on her birthday, this is the morning after!

_ “What’s next?” _ __  
_ “My life, I guess.” _ __  
__  
In truth, she didn’t know what was next for her in life. And when Franklin asked her the question the night before, she remembered that she had no  _ real _ plan at all.   
College? And then what? Struggling to find a job in her field where people would call her ‘Dr. T. Vercetti’ instead of ‘Vercetti? I Know That Name From Somewhere’.   
Ugh.   
Getting older meant she would have to start reacting to the comments with more maturity.   
  
The morning after her birthday at Bahama Mamas, Rosa laid out in her backyard in a lawn chair. Still in her dress and heels.   
Still a little drunk.   
Still hadn’t gone to bed. She’d gotten used to long hours while she was with Trevor. Mainly because she switched between oversleeping and insomnia almost every other day.   
The soft sounds of early morning Los Santos brought her some peace. The birds chirping, the occasional car passing her street, the odd dog or two barking at each other.    
She should probably go to bed.   
Lita was still asleep- she’d been out like a light for hours.   
  
Rosa picked up a leaf from beside the lawn chair. It was fall- and even though Los Santos was warm, there were still some fall colors.   
So just to keep her hands busy, she tore off pieces of the leaf and threw them into the calm pool. Soon it wouldn’t be warm enough to swim.   
… Did it cool off in Sandy Shores in the fall?   
The thought was exhaled in a wistful sigh. Why did she want to default back to thoughts of Trevor and the desert? It seemed like those were baseline for when her mind was wandering.   
“ _ Stop _ ,” she muttered aloud. If she didn’t remind herself to quit thinking about it, it would stay on her mind. She threw the rest of the leaf into the pool and stood up, finally feeling uncomfortable in the dress she’d borrowed from Tracey. It was time to swap out.   
  
It felt weird to have much less hair to wash in the shower. It’d been less than 24 hours since she had it cut, and she was still getting used to the itch of her curls against her neck.   
She decided to go for a walk after she was clean and dressed.   
And ended up at the same park near the chapel at the end of Portola Drive where she’d spoken with Tracey, months ago. Before she’d disappeared.   
“Fuck, I wish I had that motorcycle,” she groaned, thinking on how she missed the roar of the engine. The wind rushing through her clothes, the feeling of freedom as she sped down the highway. That was something she’d only gotten to do a handful of times- before Trevor made the Bagger vanish. “Fuckin’ asshole.”   
She hated him for it.   
As much as it were possible to hate someone.   
  
Thinking of him made her want to drink- especially now that she couldn’t fall back on drugs anymore.   
She sat in the grass in the middle of the small park.   
He’d gotten her to kill people.   
She hated him for it.    
He’d gotten her to try hard drugs.   
She hated him for it.   
He left her alone in his bed when she went through withdrawls.   
She hated him for that too.   
And now she couldn’t stop thinking about him. How he infuriated her, how he insisted that he loved her, how he bullied her into ‘loving’ him too, how he became violently jealous when people looked at her the wrong way.   
Fuck, why did she  _ ever _ bother with him!?   
  
He didn’t see her as T. Vercetti.   
He saw Rosa Salamanca. A decent-ish person who wanted a decent life for herself. Less complicated. Without a tarnished name from birth.   
And he loved her. In spite of her flaws. And always came back to her- even when she said something that would’ve driven anyone else away. Just like she did for him.   
They didn’t love each other- they were obsessed with each other. Codependent. Unhealthy, according to her therapist.   
And yet…   
She couldn’t deny that part of her missed him.   
Seeing him yesterday…   
Hurt.   
A lot.   
  
Phone in hand, it took restraint not to send him a message and ask if he was okay. She knew that seeing her might’ve put him over the edge yesterday. He was an emotional man.   
What would it accomplish to talk to him? Especially this early in the morning- before the sun was even coming  _ close _ to the horizon. It was four in the morning. And she was tired.   
Fingers moving slowly over the glowing screen, Rosa went into her contacts.   
To Trevor.   
A picture of him stared back at her from the screen. And she felt sick with anxiety just from looking at him. A trigger, from what her therapist called it.   
She tapped the screen.   
_ Are you sure you want to delete this contact? _   
__ Yes.   
And in less than the blink of a quickly watering eye, Trevor was out of her life.   
Some part of her instantly regretted deleting his number, and she had to sit absolutely still, eyes squeezed shut, to remind herself that this was good for her.   
Only good things from here on out. It was almost 2015- who knows what the rapidly approaching new year would bring?   
Getting older, for one.   
“Some fuckin’ birthday,” she murmured, getting up out of the grass and walking home.


End file.
